New KPA owner and baffled by the apparently poor sound quality

    Hi,


    I was expecting this thing to sound great at least, and insofar, having scrolled to factory presets with headphones, I only encountered average quality sounds, dull, harsh, edgy, not really evocating a real amp. My Di’d Rebel 30 sounds better, even a Pod or GuitarRig seems to be more to the point somehow. Compared, Axe-FX II sounds way more lively, clean and real. (though I much refer the Kemper's ergonomics and UI…).


    I would be delighted to have a listen to one preset that sound like a reasonably real tube amp, AC30, vintage Marshall or Boogie, clean to crunch, where you can hear the tubes "sing". That is ultimately what I am after. Can someone point me to one?


    Input gain seems Ok, as every other levels do, but in a way KPA currently sounds like one of those 12bits digital synth fo the 80’s, in which every preset is supposedly different, but actually sounds the same.


    Any idea of what I could be doing wrong? Keep away from factory presets?


    Anything else that would lead me towards a usable and enjoyable KPA?


    Thanks, Ulhuru

    The obvious question is what's your signal chain/how are you monitoring?


    Next, are you sure that your Kemper is set up correctly? Correct output settings, correct input settings, no clipping etc.


    Are you sure you haven't locked the cab section?


    Finally, did you try profiling any of the things s that you like with it yet? If not, go back and do that. If it doesn't sound and feel exactly like them then you may have a faulty unit.

    Welcome!
    If clean sens and input level are ok there are a few other things to troubleshoot.
    1. make sure your output is not clipping.
    2. make sure if the cabs are on
    3. can you monitor through something else instead of a headphone just for excluding it as he culprit?


    If you still think the quality is poor it would be of great help If you made a short recording available.
    One thing is for sure: It is definitely not the factory rigs, they are awesome.

    Judging in headphones is never a good idea; the premise of the KPA is to emulate the sound of a tube amp in a close-mic'ed recording chain. How many times have you sat with your ear a matter of inches from the speaker grille? If you're comparing it to an amp in the room, then you need to compare like for like. At the very least, switch on Space in the headphones.


    Cheers,
    Sam

    Hi,


    Txs for the feedback. I did check as per your suggestions, now and before. Not too sure how to set the Dist sens, I notice less distortion if I reduce it, but the timbre remains thin and harsh.


    Yes, it feels and sounds a tad like the cabs are off, but thy are indeed on,
    I checked via a Motu and Studer self powered speakers, but I thought I'd remove theses from the chain, and I now have similar impressions via my good quality Sennheiser Momentus headphones.


    As much as I hate to say this, the feeling I have is similar to the one I had when I tested a POD HD500...

    Profile the equipment that you like. You like the di'd rebel? Then profile it. It's a 5 minute job. Then once you have your profile, record both side by side and share that if you're not happy with the sound.

    Here are 2 recordings made with the kemper


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    I think for both I used factory profiles - at least for the first one... (LL High Gain Profiles)...


    What do you think of the sound - is what you get out of your kemper similar to this?


    Always keep in mind that you will reproduce the sound of a mic´ed amp - for example if you profile an ENGL Fireball 60 - you will get the profile sounding as the recorded amp with the microphone you used to profile - for example a profiles ENGL Fireball 60 with an SM 57 will sound 99% like the Fireball60 recorded with am sm 57.


    If you want to sound it like a tube amp with a guitar cab "in the room" than you have to use one of the new "Amp without Cab" Profiles (Preamp + Poweramp) and then use a neutral Poweramp and the same Guitar cab that was used for the profile.


    I can advise to use a good frfr monitor (Matrix Q12a, Atomic CFR, Yamaha DXR10 or similar).

    Quote from Ulhuru

    Well, sorry, no way to post a link here apparently, the https bit gets shopped away while publishing...


    Yes everything "here" "apparently doesn't work, the KPA sounds weak and harsh and thin, every other modeller, software, and the Axe-FX sounds better.......through headphones.......


    Did I miss anything?

    Well, i've only had my rack profiler less than 48 hours so i'm certainly no expert, but from what i've heard it do so far personally i think it sounds great and the factory preset rigs are fine. Just out of interest how have you got it set up, signal chain, monitoring etc?

    Yes, I am making my way in the profiling side of things, and I must say it is interesting, promising and fun.
    At this point I have a decent impersonation of my Rebel30 DI'd, even though a few more noise and non linearities are part of the original signal and missing in the Profile.


    I wish I could link to that in a post, but as Guitartone has kindly noted, not "everything" works first hand around here,


    @ nervousfingers, yes I find KPA to sound similar to your soundcloud, that is, very good but a bit "processed",


    and I am restating here, sorry, but through headphone or through good speakers ( I do have some too ) Axe-FX managed to sound more like a tube amp in a good room with some of the clean / crunch / vintage factory presets. So far, but I am working on reversing this with your help.


    Actually, what I find difficult to achieve are sounds that are not too much distorted not completely clean.


    Thanks for all your useful comments, kind regards,

    Edited once, last by Ulhuru ().

    Quote from Guitartone


    Yes everything "here" "apparently doesn't work, the KPA sounds weak and harsh and thin, every other modeller, software, and the Axe-FX sounds better.......through headphones.......
    Did I miss anything?


    Come on, man, give him time to breath :thumbdown:


    We'll have time to realize whether he's actually trolling :D